A Meta-Analysis Examining the Influence of Pro-Eating Disorder Websites on Body Image and Eating Pathology.

Previous research has indicated that exposure to pro-eating disorder websites might increase eating pathology; however, the magnitude of this effect is unknown. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effect of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on body image and eating pathology. Studies examining the relationship between exposure to pro-eating disorder websites and eating pathology-related outcomes were included. The systematic review identified nine studies. Findings revealed significant effect sizes of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on body image dissatisfaction (five studies), d = .41, p = .003; dieting (six studies), d = .68, p < .001, and negative affect (three studies), d = 1.00, p < .001. No effect emerged for bulimic symptoms (four studies), d = .22, p = .73. Findings confirmed the effect of pro-eating disorder websites on body image and eating pathology, highlighting the need for enforceable regulation of these websites.

A novel method for assessing distress intolerance: adaptation of a measure of willingness to pay.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Distress intolerance is a core element of many models of psychopathology and is related to a range of disorders and maladaptive behaviors. However, research on distress intolerance has been hampered by inconsistency in its assessment. Moreover, recent perspectives suggest that distress intolerance varies based on the domain of distress, highlighting the need for a measure that can capture intolerance across types of distress. This paper introduces a novel measure for distress intolerance: an adaptation of the willingness to pay (WTP) measure, which provides a consistent metric for assessing distress intolerance across domains of distress. METHODS: The WTP Distress Intolerance (WTP-DI) measure was administered to two samples of participants and feasibility and validity were evaluated. RESULTS: Evidence from unselected and clinical samples provide evidence for the feasibility and discriminant and concurrent validity of this measure. LIMITATIONS: Testing WTP-DI in larger samples and across additional domains of distress is needed. CONCLUSIONS: The WTP-DI measure provides a new measure of distress intolerance that addresses the primary limitations of existing measures and has potential to serve as a cross domain measure to facilitate comparison across types of distress.

Anxiety sensitivity and illicit sedative use among opiate-dependent women and men.

OBJECTIVES: Research has suggested that individuals with elevated anxiety sensitivity (AS) (the fear of benign bodily sensations associated with anxiety) are more likely to use substances to cope with distress, particularly substances with arousal-dampening effects such as benzodiazepines and other sedatives. Such coping motives may also vary as a function of gender, with women more likely to use substances for coping (self-medicating) purposes. Given these findings, we hypothesized that AS would be associated with illicit sedative use in an opioid-dependent sample and that gender would moderate this relationship, with a greater association among women. METHOD: Participants were 68 opioid-dependent patients recruited from a methadone maintenance clinic. A logistic regression was used to determine whether AS was associated with presence or absence of a history of illicit sedative use. RESULTS: AS was significantly associated with sedative use and this relationship was moderated by gender; elevated AS was associated with greater sedative use only in women. CONCLUSION: The presence of elevated AS is related to greater illicit use of sedatives in women but not in men. Women may be more susceptible to seek sedatives as a means of coping with unpleasant, anxious sensations.